Canadian Securities Administrators to Propose Amendments to Canadian Take-over Regime

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) have announced that they intend to publish for comment significant amendments to the Canadian take-over bid regime in the first quarter of 2015. The amendments are an initiative of all CSA members and are intended to strike a fair balance between the interests of bidders and the boards of directors and shareholders of target issuers in hostile take-over bids.

While the proposals do not recognize a target board’s right to “just say no” to and block a hostile bid, the proposals will provide boards of directors of target issuers with additional time to respond to such bids and shareholders with the ability to make “voluntary, informed and coordinated” decisions as to whether to tender their securities to the bid.

Check out Norton Rose Fulbright’s legal bulletin on this topic for more information.

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